The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has been de facto house band at East Neuk since the get-go – the festival first grew out of a summer concert series given by the orchestra around the bucolic south-east of Fife. And though there was no visit from the full SCO this year, its members brought festivities to a close with chamber concerts at the graceful churches of Crail and Cellardyke.

Octets were a recurring theme this year, it being East Neuk's eighth birthday, culminating with a feisty account of Mendelssohn's. Violinist Alexander Janiczek led with voracious drive and a healthy dose of risk-taking; occasional rough edges were traded for a thrilling rawness and an infectious blithe spirit.

Earlier, the SCO winds had pieced together a rarely heard Haydn suite (in E flat, Hob 2 Es 17 – elegant but unmemorable), alongside Stravinsky's neoclassical Octuor (James Lowe conducted with cheerful incisiveness) and Mozart's radiant Serenade in E flat K375. You'd be hard-put finding better wind ensemble playing. That these are colleagues who sit next to each other day-in, day-out was evident in every sinuous interchange, every synchronised breath, every well-meshed articulation and intuitively balanced chord. As individuals, they play with the forthrightness of orchestral principals; as a group, they share nuances as instinctive chamber musicians. Like the SCO proper, they straddle a distinctive stylistic line between period sensibility and mostly modern instruments. The notable exception – raspy and relatively petite-sounding natural horns – gave superb balance and character in this repertoire.

Sharing the all-Mendelssohn evening bill was Welsh pianist Llyr Williams, playing 11 Songs Without Words and the Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, Op 35 No 1. Williams is nothing if not his own musician, and he brought heartfelt dignity and poise to these gentle pieces. A fitting end to a fine festival.